JUVENTUS vs CELTIC in 2001

Champion's league 2001-02 : 1st Round 
Juventus Turin - Celtic Glasgow 3-2 

After showing brilliant courage to claw their way back into the game from being two down, Celtic lose. For Cetlic fans they were magnificent and they were robbed - no question about it and for them an another football match ruined by a mixture of cheating and utterly incompetent refereeing and they expect only one thing : to see the Juventus drop at Celtic Park for the return match. Celtic fell to Italian realism and three great forwards, Marcelo SALAS, Alessandro DEL PIERO and a magnificient David TREZEGUET. At this period, TREZEGUET was at the peak of his football. Simply the best striker in the penalty area in Europe and may be in the world. This 18th september 2001 he struck two times for a Juventus win...one more time. In the first half : Salas, tracked by two Celtic defenders,hares down the right wing and, from the byline, cuts the ball into the path of Trezeguet who finishes well. He scored hundred like this. In the second half a splendid goal : Trezeguet gets his head to the end of a brilliant left-footed Del Piero cross from the corner and beats Douglas all ends up. An excellent goal by the Frenchman - although he was unmarked he was quite far out and had to stretch backwards to get his head to the ball Del Piero's wizardry in getting the cross in under extreme duress was sublime. This 2 goals on video : 


Champion's league 2001-02 : 1st Round 
Celtic Glasgow - Juventus Turin 4-3 

After the first game, Celtic's people would a revenge and the crowd at Celtic Park sang like only one man before the game. Celtic lost faces Porto and Rosenborg before and to keep their chances in this champion's league they must win over Juventus. So manager Martin O'NEIL sprang something of a surprise by dropping Stilian Petrov and including Lubomir MORAVCIK. For O'Neil : "Moravcik's selection was for creative reasons. Celtic had to win and his Gianfranco Zola style of footwork was clearly thought to be one way of loosening what was anticipated to be a typically tight Italian defence". Larsson had gone four games without registering a goal, and Juve's comfortable manner in the early exchanges did not suggest a personal breakthrough was imminent for the Swede. With Pavel Nedved exerting his influence in midfield and Del Piero assured in front of him, Juventus controlled the first ten minutes and had the lead by the 19th. Del Piero it was who started the scoring. Having been fouled by a combination of Valgaeren and Moravcik, the striker dusted himself down before curling an exquisite free-kick over the wall and past Robert Douglas from 20 yards. Parkhead was stunned, perhaps by the beauty, but Celtic's reaction was not one of admiration. Moravcik was on form and in the next Celtic attack he twisted and turned Michele Paramatti three times on the right before delivering a tempting centre that produced a diving header from Valgaeren past Carini. The two Celtic players who had fouled Del Piero had made amends. 

With Moravcik really twinkling now, Celtic began to flow. A giant dummy from the Slovakian teed up Didier Agathe for a spectacular blast three minutes later and ten minutes before the interval Larsson missed a free header from six yards. It was an indication of Moravcik's performance that when Sutton did give Celtic that 2-1 advantage it was from his corner. Sutton still had plenty to do but he did it emphatically. There were still two minutes of first-half injury-time left when Agathe rampaged down the right and centred fast and low. A third goal seemed certain but Alessandro Birindelli got there first and though he nearly put the ball in his own net, it slid agonizingly wide. Instead of it being 3-1 to Celtic, in the 51st minute it was 2-2. Trezeguet had hardly touched the ball but when he did it was with devastating force. A left-foot drive screeched past Douglas. Celtic's response? More attack. Valgaeren missed another header but by the 56th minute Celtic were ahead again. Sutton was manhandled at a corner by Mark Iuliano and Larsson strode up to convert the penalty kick. Any notion of resting on their lead, however, disappeared in the next surge. From it Sutton produced a quite magnificent left- foot volley and it was only a fine save from Carini that stopped a volley from Larsson making it 5-2 sixty seconds later before Trezeguet scored his second. Celtic won the game but as in the same time Porto won versus Rosenborg, the Champion's league is over and they continued their european campaign in UEFA cup. But what a match by the Celtic !! A large video summary of this tough showdown.

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